1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method of removing an oil layer floating on water by means of towing sweeping arms which enclose a mutual diverging angle of less than 180.degree.--seen in the towing direction--and wherein near a collecting place of oil a sucking up and pressing away of oil is performed.
Such a method is very urgent in case of accidents with oil tankers as a result of which an environmental catastrophe by pollution cannot, or only partly be prevented.
In case of an accident with a super tanker very large quantities of oil may be ejected and spoiled into the sea in an uncontrollable manner.
2. Description of the Prior Art
On applying the methods known up till now in some way a quantity of oil can be removed up to a maximum of 100 to 200 m.sup.3 per hour. This limitation relates in general not only to a small areal capacity (m.sup.2 /h) depending on the apparatus to be used, but also to circumstances when no possibilities are available for storing large quantities of oil owing to which the cleaning activities (the method) always have (has) to be interrupted in order to pump over the collected oil or to remove the same.
It also been proposed in the art to store the collected oil in flexible containers; however, this appears to be not only costly but will also be difficult. Besides there is the important problem of safety, because oil on sea belongs to fuels (imco code II) having an inflammation point below 60.degree. C.
In order to transport or handle such inflammable liquids aboard the work vessel a number of safety measures are to be carried out, especially relating to the storage of oil with a view to the crew's accommodation and to the position of the engine room.